Genesis 7:15-24

Where were you earlier this week as the rain came flooding our area?  I feel it’s a safe assumption to say most of us (the smart ones) were inside somewhere. I was watching from my office window as the water came pounding down on our church building. I was very thankful that I wasn’t one of those construction workers running to find shelter or safety but rather I had already found it

I’m sure that Noah and his family felt the same way. They were safe and secure in the boat that God told them to make. They were thankful that God shut the door of the boat after they were all safely aboard. I imagine that they were also thankful that they listened to Noah’s advice and got on the boat in the first place, despite feeling skeptical or afraid of what lies ahead.

Noah didn’t miss the boat because his heart belonged to God. He was totally surrendered to God, completely and uncontrollably given over to doing whatever God wanted him to do. You also must get safely aboard God’s boat—choosing His plan for your life—instead of going your own way. Have you relinquished your life to God and all that He has for you?

Obedience always makes you feel safer both physically and spiritually. Society lays down laws for our own safety, and God does the same with the commands He gives us in the Bible.

Will you choose His way or your own way?

Genesis 7:1-16

Can you envision what happened when gathering two of every kind of animal on the earth? Imagine; Noah didn’t need stun guns, steel cages, cattle prods, or sedatives of any kind. The animals went into the ark, just as God intended (vv. 9, 14-15).

I’m sure that when the animals were marching into the ark, the people around Noah had no idea what he was doing. I can just hear them, “Noah is crazy! He’s finally lost it. Not only is Noah building a gigantic boat, but he also says he’s going to save all the animals. Who does he think he is?”

People probably had cruel, harsh words for Noah, but did that stop him? No! He kept busy doing what the Lord had told him to do, and because of his steadfastness, he participated in one of God’s miracles. Verse 16: says, “…and the Lord shut him in.” It was God that took care of Noah and his entire family from the beginning to the end. It was God who made sure he was safe and sound, and closed everything up, shutting Noah in. How extraordinary. I wonder if the people that scorned him knew that the mighty, all-powerful God took care of Noah. Nothing mattered to Noah, though, but his obedience to God. He would follow God—no matter what.

Sometimes we live our lives trying to be “people pleasers.” We want to please everybody, and we just don’t consider what the Lord wants. We care so much about what others think that we often lose sight of why we are here on earth. We are not here to impress people, but to help them to know Jesus better.

Are you living to please people or God? Time is wasted when we focus on what others think or say about us. Instead, we need to get busy telling others about the love of Jesus.

Stop worrying about what others think of you. In the end it doesn’t matter. The only one that matters in the end (and right now) is God. What does He want you to do? Ask him for strength to keep on doing the work He has called you to do— no matter what obstacles you’re facing.

Genesis 6:12-22

While many cities and villages along the Indian Ocean suffered catastrophic losses from the December 2004 tsunami, the port city of Pondicherry, India, and its 300,000 inhabitants were spared. Just beyond city limits, 600 people were killed by the devastating tidal wave, but Pondicherry withstood the tsunami. Why were they protected?

The answer began 250 years ago when France colonized the city. The French built a massive stone seawall. Year after year, the French continued to strengthen the wall, piling huge boulders along its 1.25-mile length.

The French stopped building Pondicherry’s seawall in 1957, but their work prepared them for a disaster that would occur five decades into the future. (Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press (1-4-05))

This city of Pondicherry was prepared for the tsunami disaster because of foresight, hard work, and preparation. It was the same way with Noah. He planned ahead and saved the world from extinction. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark, but God told him the flood was coming. It would be the beginning of hard times.

In your life, the rain may be off in the distance, too far away for you to see, but it will come. For some of you, the storm has ended, but for all of you, it is good advice to plan now for the storms of the future. How do you prepare for that? Stay in God’s Word. It will feed you and nourish you. Walk with Him now and you’ll see that He will guide you in the future. Trust God and listen to Him. Fill any voids in your life with the Lord—not with busyness, work, shopping, food, or drink. Simply obey Him. That’s what Noah did and we know that his story ended with the saved lives of his family, God’s creatures, and humankind.

Trust that God has your best interests in mind and be willing to do what He asks of you, even if you don’t understand why. Obedience starts with having a heart that says “YES” to God.

Genesis 6:1-12

As to the destruction the Flood caused, the whole race—computed to be well over 1,000,000 people alive at that time—perished. Only four men and four women were spared because they did not go with the great sin drift. After more than 1,600 years of human history, the race was so utterly corrupt morally that it was not fit to live. The gruesome fact of the Flood is that there are limits even to the mercy of God…. (Lockyer, Herbert. All the Miracles of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961.)

In all that God saw—the wickedness of man and the evil intent of the heart of man—he also saw Noah. And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; he had God’s favor upon him (v. 8). God’s extending grace to Noah meant that there was new life and new hope for mankind in the days ahead.

God makes it clear to us that Noah was not spared because of his good works alone; he is spared because he believed in God as Creator, Sovereign, and the only Savior from sin. He found grace for himself because he humbled himself and sought it.

Noah’s description in the Bible is astounding. He is described as a “just” man, a “perfect” man compared with those of his day, and he walked with God (v. 9). When I read that, it made me wonder what my “life description” would be. What about you? How would you be portrayed?

Pray that God would give you some of Noah’s characteristics. I long to be more like Noah, and I realize it starts with an obedient heart.

Genesis 41:14-41

In a study of 300 highly successful people like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, Mahatma Gandhi, and Albert Einstein, it was revealed that one-fourth had handicaps such as blindness, deafness, or crippled limbs. Three-fourths had either been born in poverty, came from broken homes, or at least came from exceedingly tense, disturbed situations. 

People don’t succeed in life because they were fortunate enough to be given a life totally absent of problems. In fact, it is because of the personal problems they faced that they became strong survivors. You can choose to leap over the obstacles that you face, or you can let them overcome you.

Joseph was a man who knew how to survive despite the tremendous difficulties that he faced. He was hated by his own family, sold into slavery, imprisoned even though innocent and forgotten for years by those he helped—and he still survived. God used him to teach a nation how to survive in the midst of a crisis.

Every one of us is going to go through times of difficulty—when trouble and sorrow threatens the stability of life—but God will help us to get through these threatening times. He will help you!

In the midst of a crisis, stay spiritually minded (vv. 14-16). What did Pharaoh say about Joseph after his correct interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, and what happened (vv. 38-41)? Don’t think God is out to get you; keep your heart and mind right with Him. He loves you and wants to help you to survive the crisis. He will give you what you need to carry on.

When in crisis, it’s good to devise a survival plan. Joseph had one (vv. 34-36). You have the best strategy book in the world: the Bible.

A crisis can break down your faith. Don’t let this happen. Believe that God will see you through. See Psalm 50:15, and Psalm 121. Call upon Him. He will keep you and watch over your life.

Have you found it difficult to find someone with true integrity Honesty and wholeness of character now seem to be optional and not required in the lives of people today.

The word integrity stems from the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete). In this context, integrity is the inner sense of “wholeness” deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. We can determine that someone has integrity if they behave according to the values, beliefs, and principles they claim to hold.

Joseph was a prime example of integrity, honor, and moral uprightness. He was tested under the severest of adverse circumstances, and he came out as a man of integrity. When his master’s wife tried to seduce the handsome Joseph, he ran (vv. 6-12). That is exactly what we need to do when we are tempted in any area. Run away from the temptation, and don’t look back!

In verses 8-12, notice what Joseph does in order to overcome moral failure. He refuses to participate in sin, saying that it would be a “sin against God” (vv. 8-9). Day after day, he resists the sin (v. 10). He runs quickly from the sin (vv. 11-12). Joseph “fled, and got him out”—because that’s exactly what you will need to do when the lure of sin is calling out to you.

There are all sorts of temptations lurking around every single one of us. It is tempting to gamble, cheat, steal, and lie. We have seen the results of having no moral code in business, and yet there are still some who don’t care to have principles in business, and all of us suffer for this.

Pray and ask God for some of Joseph’s integrity as we drive back the fiends of temptation. Don’t give in to whatever your particular temptation may be; stay strong.

A prison sentence, like the one Joseph endured, would be better than failing your Lord. And besides, ”the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper” (v. 23). Just as God was with Joseph, and made everything he did successful, He will be with you, too. Be a person of integrity.

Genesis 37:18 – 28

Joseph, the owner of a dream, was chosen by God to do great things. Before he would see his dreams come true, he was going to be horribly persecuted. Joseph’s brothers not only misunderstood him and what God was doing in his life, they hated him for the dream God had given him. Mistreatment is to be expected if you are going to dream a dream for God. Jesus suffered the ultimate persecution—and it’s not unusual for those who love God to also suffer. Jesus said in John 15:20, “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

Joseph faced the ultimate abuse at the hands of his brothers: they planned to murder him. Instead, Reuben talked them into placing Joseph into a pit, and certainly, Joseph thought his dream died as he waited to die (v. 24).

You might be in the pit of despair right now, and perhaps all of your hopes and dreams are gone. Perhaps you are struggling to have any hope as you suffer through pain and hardship. You cannot give up. God had plans for Joseph, and He has plans for you.

Think of all the people whose dreams died before they were fulfilled:

• Adam and Eve dreamed of having a son who would be the “promised one.” Cain came and was a murderer.
• Abraham dreamed of a son and it didn’t happen until Sarah’s womb had died.
• Moses dreamed of delivering Israel from bondage, but he spent three years on the backside of the desert where his dream died.
• Even Jesus Christ dreamed of delivering the world from sin, but He had to spend three days and nights of death in the earth.